Lifesaver
by ReScripta
Summary: Rango finds Jake half-dead and tortured in the desert. Together with the town people he can save him. But this should be the beginning for Rango to protect Jake from a great danger... and himself and his town.
1. Just routine

**Hello, I finished chapter one at last.** **Don't be angry with me if the translation isn't the best. Next chapters need a while because of grammar mistakes. [Sometimes I hate my bad English. :P ]**

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 **The story plays a few months later after Rango brought back the water.**

 **I've got the idea for the title after I heard the song `Lifesaver´ by** _ **Sunrise Avenue**_ **.**

 **I tried my best for this translation. If you find an error send me a message.**

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1\. Just routine

"Move along, please! Out of the way!"

With a loud cheering, Elbows, the desert cat, leaped down the diving board into the lake. Snorting he came back surface and splashed about in water like a little child.

Bathing in the lake had become part of everyday life in mud. At one time, the sun had been a great agony, but now it was a blessing in cold water. Some people laid lazily in the sun, while others either swam in the water or did sport on the beach. Just like the two city boys, Lucky and Cletus, who played volleyball around a net. With momentum, Lucky threw the ball into the air and shot it over to Cletus.

"Catch him!"

Quickly Cletus ran forward and let it bounce on his hands. But instead to fly back over the net, the ball took a flight backwards and landed directly on… Rango's head.

"Ouch!"

The children came running quickly. Rango sat on his roadrunner and rubbed quickly his head with pain on the face.

"Sorry, Mr. Rango," Luck said and he hastily picked up the ball, which laid next to Rango in the sand.

"Could you use smaller balls?" Rango asked and angled for his fallen hat.

"But for volleyball you need such balls", Cletus said and showed him a little volleyball guide book.

"Oh, well," Rango said. "At least choose a smaller ball game such as tennis, if I'm near."

"Rango! Wait! You forgot your lunch!"

At that moment Beans came running and handed him a paper bag.

"Thanks, Beans!" Rango received the lunch bag with a little smile, which Beans used to make him if he's going to ride away.

"Where are you riding today?" Lucky asked curiously. "Are you going to hunt bandits? Or is anyone planning to descend on a stagecoach?"

"Eh, I'm just going to do my routine inspection tour through the desert," Rango replied.

"How boring," Lucky said and moved back to play a new match with Cletus.

Beans smiled. "Take it easy. Children want to hear exciting stories all the time."

Rango sighed. "Yes, I know you're right. But Lucky is right, too. There are no exciting things in the desert, absolutely nothing."

"But Rango, you always used to say: every work is important, even the smallest."

Rango smiled. "Okay. You're right."

He paused when he realized Priscilla next to him. The little mouse girl with her big eyes stood there in her uniform and scrutinized him closely.

"Hello, little sister. Why don't you play with the others?"

"Oh, ball games aren't my strong points," she said.

"Oh, well." Rango adjusted his hat.

"And what about you?" she asked. "What do you plan on doing today?"

"Just routine works," Rango answered.

"And when will you be back?"

"Well, probably I'll be gone all day."

"Can I come with you?" she asked and gave him a pleading look with her big, yellow eyes.

But Rango shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry. That's a job for adults only. Maybe another time."

"You promise?"

"I promise. Listen, little sister. You could do me a favour and keep an eye on the city. I think the others don't feel like doing that."

He looked at the townspeople, who romped around the beach. They all gave the impression of being calm. At that moment, Rango wished to do the same. Swimming in the water, take a sunbath at the beach... But he wasn't allowed to be neglectful of his duties because of leisure activities. Even if he wanted. But his duties had priority.

"And don't go trying to be a hero," Beans warned. "Last time you came back with a bump on your head."

"I'm just stumbled over my boots," Rango protested.

"You see, life is dangerous to you, honey."

"Are you leaving us again, sheriff?" Ambrose asked, who wanted to go to the beach, too.

"Oh yes," Rango replies. "Only my inspection tour. You never know. The crime lurks always and everywhere. You need eyes in the back of your head. After all, I'm responsible to protect the city."

"Protecting? From what?" Ambrose asked in surprise. "Everything has been quiet lately. Even Bill wasn't seen for a long time."

Rango shook his face with a troubled expression. "Exactly, this peace worries me."

He put one hand in his pocket und searched hastily.

"Wait! Where are my Tic Tacs again? Oh, I found them!"

With these words Rango gave his roadrunner spores and the animal sped at a full gallop into the desert. Without knowing what to expect.

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 **All right. This was the first chapter. What will Rango find in the desert?**

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 **Okay, I hope translation wasn't too bad. Maybe I will correct some errors later.  
**


	2. Alone in the desert

**Sorry again for the break. :/**

 **Now Rango is in the desert. He wants to make sure that everything is okay around the town.**

 **Enjoy.**

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2\. Alone in the desert

After a long gallop, Rango shortened in the reins. His roadrunner reduced his pace and walked leisurely through the hot but quiet desert. Rango enjoyed the peace around him and held his face in the sun. On this way, he could regather his thoughts without someone disturbed him.

When he was still a pet, he had never imagined that he would ever sit on a roadrunner as a great hero, who rides through the desert. And now everything was perfect. He had made it to be a hero and won the hearth of a beautiful girl. Maybe she was more than a beautiful girlfriend for him. Maybe it won't be long until they will marry and will have children…

He stopped his thoughts. One thing after another! At first he had to protect a town. It didn't escaped his attention that it was very quiet lately. Exactly this silence worried him. Too much peace in near of a town with a lot of water was more than suspicious for him. He looked around. But everything seems to be as usual, when he made his control. Nothing has changed. Even the Walking Cactuses didn't change their positions. Rango shrugged his shoulders. Nevertheless, there was something in the air. Something frighteningly.

Suddenly, he heard a shrill cry of a hawk. He looked into the sky, but he couldn't see a hawk. He stopped his roadrunner and listened. But everything was quiet. No bird was visible in the sky, even not a cloud.

He touched his forehead. Made the heat him crazy?

There! Again a cry of a bird. That was a hawk, without a doubt. But where?

Rango's eyes moved to the direction, where the screams came from probably.

On the left side, high rocks towered in the sky. Rango knew these rocks and had never dared a ride into this area. He avoided this place for two reasons. First, because he knew that there was happen a robbery on a human trek many years ago. Until today, the remains of the old covered wagons lay there and waited for to be decayed completely from the hot desert at last. And second, because of the ghosts of the murdered humans, who should spook there apparently. Not without reason called all people this area "Death Mountain".

 _Boring name_ , Rango thought _. But fitting._

He wasn't curious enough to ride in this direction, but he was the sheriff and it was his responsibility to tidy things up. Maybe someone was in danger.

Again he heard an angry cry of a predator bird. Unwillingly, he steered his roadrunner in the direction of the rocks. He rode slowly to avoid that the bird could take him by surprise.

There! Again a cry of a bird. This time it was louder. If he thought, he was close enough he jumped down from the roadrunner and went to a rocks bending.

Carefully he peeked around the corner.

Shocked he fell back. Dust was kicked up into the air. Rango coughed several times, then he dared a second look.

On an open sand area, two hawks fought against each other. Again and again, they pecked his enemy with their beaks and flew up and down several times. They shouted loudly and attacked each other heavily with their claws.

Rango would have gone and had left the two fighting birds, if he didn't want to know, what their fight was all about. When he heard that the birds were on another part of the sandy surface to continue their fight, Rango risked a second look.

The view was a little bit dusty because of the kicked up sand. Still he could see the big, old, rickety frameworks of the covered wagons from a considerable distance. A dreadfully sight, like a picture of a western cemetery.

Rango shuddered. He wanted to turn around, but then he noticed something.

At first, he thought nothing of it. Only after a closer look, he had an odd feeling. There was something wrong. He looked over at one of the old covered wagons of which metal bows stood free. Something longish hung down limply on the top of the first one.

At first, Rango thought, it would be a scrap of cloth from an old tarp or something similar. But it wasn't ragged. And it didn't flutter in the hot wind like a piece of a cloth. It was something heavy. Rango narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't see more details from this distance.

Rango cursed his curiosity again.

Carefully, very carefully, so that the two birds couldn't see him, he left his hiding place and snuck to the old destroyed covered wagon. But the birds were too engrossed in their quarrel to notice him. If he was close enough in the wooden wreckage's near, he looked up again to the partly rusted metal bow.

Rango couldn't believe his eyes. In bewilderment he looked up to the old metal bow. Hastily he jumped on the wooden bench of the wagon, always fixed his eyes on the top of the metal bow.

No, this couldn't be! His mind must play tricks with him.

He climbed up the metal bow quickly. Halfway up, he stopped.

No, it couldn't be true! But it was true. He saw it with his own eyes which or _who_ was hanging on the metal bow.

A rattlesnake.

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 **There is now a picture of this scene. Visit my deviantART account to see this picture. ;)**


	3. Half dead

**Hello, at last chapter 3. :) Enjoy. (Sorry for possible grammatical errors.)**

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3\. Halfdeath

Rango climbed up a little bit higher until he was almost at eye level with Jake.

The powerful killer, how Rango saw him the last time, looked helpless and pitiful now.

He narrowed his eyes.

Jake was tied with cords and ropes on the top of the metal bow. The ropes were pulled through his gun belt and his head hanged down lifeless, also the rest of his body, like a wet towel.

Rango looked in his face. Jake had closed his eyes and seems to be dead. His mouth was gagged with a scarf and tied up with a wire.

Hastily Rango climbed further up until he stood on the top of the metal bow. He warped his tail around the metal bow and let himself down gently to him. The body swayed slightly as he sat down on the rattlesnake. Now he saw wounds of lashes on the skin all over the body of the snake.

He held on to Jake's gun belt and climbed down to Jake's head. Unfortunately, the belt did not reach to the head, just to the lower neck region. Rango put his head on the snake's skin. But it was hard for him to hear the heartbeat, because his own blood was pounding in his head now.

With trembling hands, he slid down to Jake's neck. Rango paid no attention to more details. He just wanted to know whether the snake was still alive or not. When he reached the head, he touched Jake's mouth. He felt a very soft breeze.

He was still breathing.

Rango felt that Jake's skin was very hot. For reptiles it was a particular problem because they couldn't sweat. Rango knew if he did nothing, Jake would die a cruel heatstroke in the worst case.

Interrogative Rango looked into Jake's face. Then he gently grabbed the wire, which had been tied around the mouth of the snake. But as much as he tried, the wire was too tightly. He couldn't remove it. Finally, he gave up.

For the moment, Rango was unable to move. What should he do now?

He was startled when a big, dark shadow flew above him. The hawks had finished their dispute and took notice of the chameleon, which crawled down the rattlesnake.

"Hey! Get lost!" Rango shouted.

One of the hawks flew very close and hacked his beak after him.

Rango, completely terrified, lost his hold and fell down. Fortunately, the wagon floor was stuffed with sand, so that he landed softly. He quickly stood up and took out his revolver. The birds circled about him in the air and seemed to think whom of them they should eat first. Either the nimble chameleon or the motionless rattlesnake.

The first hawk chose the more leisurely kind and sat down on the metal bow of the old covered wagon. He bent down to the snake and hacked with his beak. Jake moved slightly, when the bird snapped at him. Apparently, his nerves still reacted in spite he was unconscious.

"Hey! Stop it!" Rango shouted to the bird.

At this moment, the second hawk rushed down to the chameleon. In his distress, Rango shot into the air. The first hawk flew up frightened during the second one made a sharp bend. In the air they circled around, and then they sailed to a rock group and settled on there.

Rango recognized how the birds were staring over at him, watching him with their sharp eyes. Apparently, they were just waiting for an opportunity to attack again.

Rango's gaze wandered up to Jake. If he left him alone to leave him to his fate, the predators would eat him up sooner or later.

Damn it! Who had hanged up him there?

With shaky knees, he leaned against the old trek wreck.

They will not wait a long time to start another attack. Rango furrowed his brows.

He shook his head. No, he couldn't leave him alone. But what should he do? Alone he couldn't help him. He had to ask someone for help. But how? It was impossible to get away from here.

A faint clucking caught his attention. His roadrunner was in his near and did not care about the greedy eyes of the hawks. Carefree, he pecked on the sandy ground in hope to find there something to eat.

Suddenly Rango got an idea.

He quickly walked over to the roadrunner and rummaged around the saddlebag. Inside he found pencil and paper. After a short time of thinking he wrote something on the paper. When he had read through it again, he folded the note and fixed it tightly on the roadrunner's reins.

"Go!" he said. "Run back to the city."

He gave the animal a pat. At first, the roadrunner was very surprised and turned around. But Rango waved wildly with his arms and hands as a sign that he should leave the place. With loud cackle the animal ran away.

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 **I feel sorry for Jake. :(**

 **Next chapter comes as soon as possible.**


	4. Appeal for help

**So, after a long, long time, I found time to continue the translation. :) In future, I will upload all German fanfictions on my German fanfiction account on fanfiktion de. All who already commented the German version, you don't have to write a review for the English version, just if you want. Maybe the translated text is better to understand, but sorry for possible errors.**

 **Enjoy.**

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4\. Appeal for help

"Hey! You have to cut a better figure, if you jump from the board."

Elbows laughed. He lay on the beach and looked over to the diving board, where Buford stood in his swimming trunks. But before he made the first steps for the run, he pulled up vigorously his bathing pants once again.

"I bet 10 glasses of water, that the board will crack," Furgus said, who was lying next to Elbows.

Elbows nodded. "The bet is valid."

At this moment, Buford took a run-up. But as soon as he had walked two steps on the board, he stopped as if thunderstruck, swayed and tilted forward. With a belly punch, he landed on the board. This made a faint crack and before Buford knew it, he and the board landed in the water.

"I won!" Furgus triumphed.

With a puff, Buford came back to the water surface.

"It's a good thing that we have a spare diving board," Elgin said, who had watched all from his beach chair. "Hey! Buford? Do you need a towel?"

But Buford wanted something completely different.

"Hey! Look!" he snarled and pointed hastily forward. "Why does the roadrunner ride without a rider?"

Beans, who was still sitting on the lake to wait for Rango, stood up with a start.

"It's Rango's roadrunner!"

The roadrunner ran down the street and stopped in front of the jail.

Immediately Beans dashed to it. The very idea, that something happened to Rango, made her hurry up.

The others, lured by Buford's cries, left beach and water and ran over to the prison, where Beans held the reins of the roadrunner.

"Where is Rango? What's happened?"

Then she noticed the letter on the roadrunner's reins. Hastily, she pulled it out quickly and unfolded it.

It was Rango's handwriting, without doubt. Quickly she scanned the lines.

At that moment, the other city dwellers arrived the prison.

"Anything bad?" Furgus asked cautiously, who feared the worst.

After Beans had finished the letter reading, she let the paper sink speechless.

"What's written there?" Waffles asked curiously. But Buford was faster and whipped it out of her hand and read:

" _Whoever finds this letter, please bring it to Dirt._

 _My dear friends, I send you this letter because I desperately need your help immediately. Drum up as many people as you can find and do not forget to take the Doc with you! I'm in the Death Mountains at the old covered wagon cemetery._

 _Please, come quickly._

 _Rango_ _"_

After Buford had finished, everyone was silent.

"In Death Mountains?" Furgus muttered. "What is he doing there?"

"Doc should also come also," Buford repeated.

"Sounds very urgent," Furgus said thoughtfully.

"In this case, it will be the best that we hurry up," Buford said, who still wore his bathing trunks. "Call all together!"

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Annoyed, Rango fired off one warning shot after another. The birds had flown up again and circled over the plain like greedy vultures.

"Get off!"

Rango hoped that the note had gotten into Dirt. He had failed to mention Jake in the letter purposely, from fear that no one would come. Beans would have come. No matter whether Jake was around or not. But with Beans alone, he could do nothing. He needed the help of everyone.

Rango sighed in relief as he heard chicken footsteps in his near. He quickly ran to the rock bend. The city people shouldn't realize immediately why he had asked them to come here. He knew all would thought that he was crazy.

Beans was the first one who rode around the corner. It took a load off her mind as Rango approached her, sound and healthy. She climbed down quickly and flung her arms around his neck.

"Rango! Thanks good, you are okay. But what's going on?"

"Oh, Beans," Rango said. "I'm so glad to see you here."

He hugged her. At this moment, the others came.

Rango counted 10 or 15 town people. Including Elgin, Furgus, Buford, Doc, Spoons, Waffles and Ambrose.

"So, what's up?" Elgin wanted to know.

"Yeah, it there anything special?" Waffles asked excitedly.

Rango raised his hand. „Alright, alright! Quiet please! I have sent for you to come here because I urgently need to ask for something."

Curiously, the city people looked at him. Rango wanted to make it short. Who knows how much time Jake still had.

"When I passed this way, I noticed this here."

Rango pointed behind himself. All eyes wandered ahead. Rango couldn't tell whether they were stunned or shocked. Anyway, all stared up in disbelief, where Jake was still hanging unconscious on the metal arch.

Buford scratched his head questioningly. "Uh… did you him…"

Rango raised his hands defensively. "No, no, of course not! I found him in this condition. I've already checked him. He is not dead yet."

"And what do you want to say with that?" Beans asked sceptically.

Rango realized that he had to muster all his power of persuasion now.

"Well, that's why I asked you to come here. You must help me to get him down from there.

All of sudden, everything was quiet, even the wind seemed to hold its breath, and everyone stared at Rango in disbelief, who became a few centimetres smaller at the sight of the others.

"You're not serious, are you?" Beans asked stunned.

"That's right," Elgin agreed. "Why should we do that?"

"Listen, people," Rango tried once again. "I know, it sounds crazy. But we have to help him."

"Mr. Rango," Buford said. "I know, you don't live with us a long time yet, but here in the desert, the survival of the fittest applies."

Rango narrowed his eyes. "Oh, does that mean, you would like it if I left you in that state?"

"Of course not, but…"

"And you Spoons? Would you like it if I left you lonely and abandoned without water in the desert?"

"But that with Jake is something completely different," Ambrose commended. „He is a killer. And someone like him got was he deserved."

Spoons bared his head. "You can't beat a venerable death."

Everyone startled. The birds of prey had risen into the air and circled greedily over the small gathering group.

"Do you understand now?" Rango said in a haunting voice. "They'll kill him."

Buford shook his head. "Mr. Rango, leave him alone. Maybe it's even the best for him."

Furgus nodded. "He is right. Who knows how long he's been hanging there."

"You can do nothing for him anymore," Spoons said.

Rango scowled.

"Very well! As you will! Go back home, but I will stay here! I'll defend him against these vultures for so long, even if I'm about to perish."

With these words, Rango ran to the dilapidated wooden cart, stood himself in position on the top of the boards and raised his revolver. The birds took notice of him and circled around him aggressively. Then the first one swooped down on him. Rango shot, the bird dodged. The second one attacked him immediately afterwards. Rango could avoid his claws in the nick of time. The hawk raised himself into the air again and both orbited their victim again.

The townspeople stood in distance and watched the hunting game with open mouths.

One of the buzzards rushed back at Jake now. Rango shot again. Now the hawks were sick to death of that chameleon. Annoinly, they yelled at Rango and attacked him again. Rango dodged again and ran around the wooden cart. The birds seemed to like the game and flew up and down repeatedly.

Beans couldn't watch it any longer.

Angrily she took her rifle. "What are you waiting for!? Help him!"

Immediately, the others grabbed their guns and shot out from all pipes. The hawks, surprised by the attack, flew up. It became all too much for them gardually. With anger, they shrieked again, then they flew away.

When Rango realized, the birds were gone, he sank on his knees in the sand with exhaustion and panting.

Slowly, the townspeople surrounded him. "And what exactly do you intend to do?"

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 **To be continued...**


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